Zelensky calls for unity among NATO countries

MADRID/KIEV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stressed the need for unity among democratic NATO countries against the Russian invasion of his country.

“I call on them to do everything to ensure that our community is never weakened,” he said in a video address to a plenary session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Madrid on Monday, according to simultaneous translation.

Zelensky reiterated his country’s desire to become a member of the EU and NATO.

The consequences of the Russian attacks for the Ukrainian civilian population are so severe that Russia should be branded a “terrorist state” by all parliaments, Zelenksy said.

Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is not a formal body of the defence alliance, but a legally independent association of the parliaments of the member states and associated countries. (DPA)